The former president of Bank of America-Maryland tried to take a few months to just “do nothing.” She had the rare chance after leaving the bank in February. She was one of several high-level executives to lose her job in the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank’s reorganization.

But Gamble, 46, is back in the finance game again. She and Cindy Flanders, BofA’s former global commercial bank executive for the mid-Atlantic, have launched Skipjack Partners LLC, a private equity firm that will focus on funding companies with $10 million to $100 million in revenue.

Eventually, the two want to raise enough money to start a private equity fund, grabbing some of the capital they see “sitting on the sidelines.” At least one estimate pegs that capital at $400 billion.

What Flanders and Gamble are learning to break from is the corporate life, not an easy thing to do when you’ve spent your whole career amid organizational flow charts and board rooms.

Though both lost their jobs because of the bank’s attempt to right itself after its forced acquisition of troubled Merrill Lynch, their story is hardly the typical tale of the displaced employee. They left with retirements intact, a strong relationship with the bank, severance packages, lots of contacts — and choices.

Their first choice was not to return to corporate life. The travel, the structure and the 70-hour weeks were something they were ready to give up.

“At this stage in our careers, we want to dictate the terms,” Gamble said.

Being able to do just that magnifies the dichotomy between the middle manager who finds herself looking for something to pay the bills and the well-connected exec who is ready to pursue her next big adventure.

Those who can afford to are using layoffs to do what they finally want to do — or something they never dreamed of doing.

The Internet is filled with advice for how to change careers and find happiness. People not content on changing careers and working for someone else are likely to drive a wave of new companies in the next five years.

“Those that are entrepreneurial are using their contacts and sources to either develop their own business or work with someone on creating new companies,” said Lawrence J. Holmes, managing director of the Columbia Consulting Group, a Howard County search firm that recruits executives in finance, health care, technology and insurance.

He said Gamble and Flanders will join the many from Wall Street, banks and other financial companies who are venturing out on their own. Top executives like them have an advantage over others in the market. They have management expertise and know many people.

Driving the new business trend is that fewer top executives want to move to another city. A man Holmes tried to recruit recently turned down a $100,000 pay increase because it involved moving.

“Before 9/11, people moved all the time,” Holmes said. “I don’t know if their values changed. We see it all the time. They think life is too short.”

The last straw

The two women had both mulled the next step in their careers for at least the past two years. Changes at Bank of America forced them to finally do it. Both could have found other roles in the bank in another city. Instead, they decided to plot their next move in the Baltimore-Washington area.

Flanders, 55, thought about becoming an executive coach and decided there wasn’t enough demand for the service. She then became fixated on private equity after asking colleagues to talk about her strengths and weaknesses.

Flanders liked deals and came across many in 35 years of banking. She ran Bank of America’s commercial and business banking client teams from central New Jersey down through Virginia, providing financial services to companies with $2 million to $2 billion in revenue.

She knows lots of companies and CEOs, a good start in trying to drum up business on your own.

“I kept coming back to this when I talked to so many clients, and I was encouraged to do it,” Flanders said. “It was the best way to leverage the network I built up over so many years.”

As Flanders plotted Skipjack, Gamble tried to relax.

Relaxing for Gamble meant working out with a trainer at a local gym, rowing crew on the Middle Branch, spending more time with her family and continuing work on half a dozen nonprofit boards.

Then Flanders called. The two had been friends and colleagues for years.

Flanders, at first, asked to run some firm names by Gamble. Then she flat out asked her to join the company, so named because she wanted a nautical theme to go with the mid-Atlantic bent.

“I called her up and said you really need to do this with me.” Flanders said. “I don’t want to do this alone.”

Gamble said yes.

She brings with her a background in finance, marketing, sales and experience in running a business at a CEO level. She said one of her greatest strengths is that she often had to evaluate whether a company was worth investing in while at BofA. Decisions were 10 percent based on a company’s business plan and 90 percent on its management team.

Gamble said she’ll be doing the same thing in deciding whether to pour private equity funding into a company.

“It is a bit of a leap for us; we don’t have a track record in private equity,” Gamble said.

Others don’t see that as a detriment.

“Considering their skill set, experience, executive presence and knowledge, they will be perfect to put the right partners together,” said Sandy Dunleavy, a former colleague at BofA and now a bank consultant.

In need of capital

Gamble said Skipjack is going to focus on raising money for each transaction. The money could be used for a management buyout of a company, product line growth and acquisitions. She said they will likely start out with bank deals because investors have said they’re interested in community bank acquisitions.

“One of my concerns is there wouldn’t be sufficient deal flow to look at,” Gamble said. “I’ve been pleasantly surprised by it.”

No one has quite pinpointed whether the market will flood with debt and equity deals once the country emerges from the recession.

Venture capital investments, a kind of private equity, dropped 8 percent in 2008 to $28.3 billion nationally, creating the first annual decline since 2003, according to the MoneyTree Report by PricewaterhouseCoopers. In first quarter 2009, venture capital investments hit their lowest level, about $3 billion, since 1997.

Colin Blaydon, director of the Center for Private Equity and Entrepreneurship at Dartmouth College, said so far this year funds have been successful in raising money in emerging markets, distressed investments, banking and clean technology. About $27.7 billion has been raised so far in private equity this year, down from $264 billion last year, according to PE Week, Reuters’ private equity newsletter.

“The ability to raise a fund depends first of all if you’ve got a track record,” said Blaydon, also a professor at Dartmouth’s Tuck Business School. “You have to have a compelling story about what area you’re going to invest in and how you’re going to go about doing it. The scrutiny is intense.”

Gamble and Flanders said they’re ready for the scrutiny and competition. They say they’ll keep the business just the two of them until deals start coming in. As for revenue goals, they’re working on them. For now, they’re busy meeting with potential clients and investors.

Flanders credits basketball star Le-Bron James as an inspiration. No, not his jumpshot. It was what he said in a recent “60 Minutes” interview.